The ABCC* has commenced proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court against the CFMEU and six of its officials, including ACT State Secretary Dean Hall, for contravening right of entry provisions on several occasions on construction sites across Canberra, in one instance disrupting a concrete pour.

In a statement of claim filed in the Federal Circuit Court, the ABCC alleges:

Mr Hall and CFMEU organisers Halafihi Kivalu, Johnny Lomax, Jason O’Mara, Zachary Smith and Kenneth Miller broke right of entry laws on several occasions between August 2013 and March 2014.

On a site in Franklin, Mr Hall told a concrete pump operator “stop pumping or I’ll make you lose your ticket!” As a result, the operator packed up the concrete pump and left the site. Mr Hall said to fellow organiser Johnny Lomax: “watch what happens when I stop their pour. There’s going to be a punch on here.”

When a subcontractor said to Mr Lomax “You are just trying to stop my job”, Mr Lomax replied: “It’s not about you mate. Ever since we started coming here these Village guys have had bad attitude and it needs to be fixed and they’ll get plenty of trouble when they start that Harrison site across the road as well”.

Mr Hall, Mr Kivalu, Mr O’Mara and Mr Smith also failed to follow safety procedures during site visits. Mr Hall told a senior manager who asked him to follow safety rules “…I have a permit to enter the site and it overrides your site rules”. When told to follow site safety rules, Mr Smith positioned his face centimetres from the site manager’s face, yelled “I’m here as a WH&S Officer! You can’t f***ing tell me what to do” and pointed his finger at the site manager. The ABCC alleges that the above behaviour constitutes improper behaviour and contravenes right of entry provisions under the Fair Work Act.

*This matter was originally filed by Fair Work Building and Construction (FWBC). On 2 December 2016, FWBC became the ABCC.